Commission, and the Oak Ridge and Los Alamos Laboratories, are
contributing to such a study,
The data in Japan will be evaluated
to determine whether information on persons exposed, their
locations at the time of exposure, and shielding effects are
adequately known to plan a continental test series which would
establish more exactly the amounts of radiation received by the
Japanese,
Study of Radon Concentrations
14, To learn more about safe radon concentrations in uranium
mining, three AEC representatives recently visited the gold mines
in Johannesburg, Union of South Africa, and the uranium mine of the
Union Miniere de Haut Katanga in the Belgian Congo,
15, Several features make the South African mines
particularly useful in studying the effects of radon,
At the
present time the total population of workers in the South
African uranium mines is approximately 270,000,
This is possibly
the largest single group of individuals in the world with common
radiation expcsure.
Also important are the excellent medical
control procedures and records maintained in this area,
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DOE ARCHIVES
16; It was determined by the AEC representatives that the
concentrations of radon in a number of gold mines were in the
range of our concurrently accepted maximum permissible
concentration and that there appeared to be no unusu2l incidence
of lung cancer in the mining population,
ne Government of the
Union of South Africa was strongly urged to amplify these
preliminary studies and to carry them to completion since it
would contritute greatly to our confidence in the accepted safe
level of exposure to radon,